Officials seize smuggled diesel 11 miles west of Koh Samui

On Tuesday customs officials seized 50,000 liters of smuggled diesel about 11 nautical miles west of Koh Samui in the Gulf of Thailand, the boats skipper and crew were arrested.

At a press conference on Thursday morning, Chief of the Bandon Customs office – Nimit Saeng-ampai, said that the seizure was part of a drive to suppress oil smuggling.

Jirapong Boonchudam, 58 and Sommat Boonchudam, the boat’s captain aged 62 were arrested on board a modified fishing boat, their smuggled haul has a value of around 1.2 million baht. The two men told officials that a man they would refer to only as Phan paid them 15,000 baht a month to smuggle the oil. It is believed the oil was being smuggled from Malaysia and was en-route to Vietnam.